Steve Lowe from the Washington Area Secular Humanists (WASH) joins Rogiers, chapter representative for Black Nonbelievers of DC, at the DC Pride Festival on June 10, 2018.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of joining fellow humanists, atheists, and freethinkers at the 43rdCapital Pride Festival. This event occurs annually in Washington, DC, as a part of a weekend to educate, support, and celebrate the LGBTQ community.

This year’s theme was “Elements of Us.” It aims to highlight the intersectional nature of human life, composed of a “kaleidoscope of extraordinary parts,” such as gender, identity, race, spirituality, sexuality, and more. These parts connect and strengthen the LGBTQ community in a tumultuous world, and encourage confidence and resilience as individuals.

The Washington Area Secular Humanists (a local chapter of the American Humanist Association), along with American Atheists, Black Nonbelievers of DC, and the Secular Coalition for America came together under one booth to engage thousands of festival attendees about allyship, advocacy, church-state separation, and other topics. Some attendees were surprised to see atheists as allies, as if atheism and LGBTQ identity are mutually exclusive – but we are much more than that. This was a great opportunity to educate others about who we are, and the critical role of secularism in the LGBTQ movement.

Pride Festival attendees peruse our booth.

As humanists, we are particularly concerned with creating a world that is ethical and meaningful for the greater good of humanity. This includes all people, therefore we commit to social justice as a means to creating a progressive society. By forming the Social Justice Alliance (comprised of the LGBTQ Humanist Alliance, the Black Humanist Alliance, and the Feminist Humanist Alliance), the AHA is committed to liberating all marginalized communities. The LGBTQ Humanist Alliance specifically serves as a forum for queer humanists and allies to come together and exchange ideas, build safe communities, promote humanist values, and achieve full equality and social liberation of LGBTQ persons. We support and celebrate these efforts in creating a just society that affirms all identities.